Community Corner

St. Michael's Hospital Opens New, Larger ER

Central Ward hospital's emergency capacity doubled with $30 million expansion

The first patient to be admitted to St. Michael’s Hospital nearly 150 years ago, a man who’d been hit by a train, was brought to the Central Avenue facility in a wheelbarrow.

Since then, the hospital -- founded by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor to serve the city’s marginalized residents -- has gone through waves of growth, including this past Wednesday, when the ribbon was cut on a new emergency department that will allow the hospital to serve nearly twice as many patients annually in greater comfort and with much more privacy.

“The emergency room can be a very scary place. Here I have witnessed families waiting in distress and despair,” said Bishop Manuel Cruz, who came to bless the new department Wednesday. “It is my experience that the doctors and nurses and other staff are great sources of comfort to those who come here.”

The old emergency department, with just 9,000 square feet of space, left little room to seclude patients in distress from individuals, including children, waiting their turn to see a doctor.

But the new department, with an additional 18,000 square feet of space, now has a dedicated emergency entrance feeding into resuscitation rooms where patients in critical condition can be brought directly. There’s also a new visitor’s driveway, 23 more treatment bays, two new triage rooms as well as additional, dedicated equipment, including X-ray machines. 

Construction on the expanded department began in 2011 and cost $30 million.

With the improvements, the department will be able to  serve 60,000 patients a year, up from 35,000 a year currently.

Anibal Ramos, president of the Newark Municipal Council and one of the attendees at Wednesday’s ceremony, said the expanded facility meets a vital need in a city where there are fewer hospitals now than just a few years ago.

“St. Michael’s has come to play a more critical and vital role in the city of Newark, especially after St. James and Columbus hospitals both closed down,” he said.


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